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Friday, 16 April 2010

Fruit Pastry Cake

I have to thank my friend VB for recommending this Fruit Pastry Cake. This cake was very popular among local bloggers sometime back. I told her I would probably give it a try when she first made this cake. Almost two years down the road, and I totally forgot about it until I saw her photo of this same cake recently. With fruits piling over a thick layer of beautiful golden crumbs that comes with a nicely browned crust, how can anyone not fall in love with it?! Since I would be meeting VB's friend to collect a cookbook from her, I thought it would be an excellent idea to make this cake for her.

Since this would be the first time I am making this cake, I baked one to test it out. Except for the little extra effort to wash and cut the fruits, and making sure they are well drained, this cake was easy to prepare.

This is how the cake looked like after baking. I was really surprised at how beautiful it turned out. Even my children were "wow-ing" all over when they saw the cake cooling on the dining table. They were really impressed :D

The recommended pan size for this cake is either a 9" round pan, or an 8" square pan or a 7x11" pan. I used my 8" round pan instead. The cake took 75mins to finish baking, and I got a taller cake. I found the cake slightly on the sweet side even though I have cut down the amount of sugar from 200g to 160g. It tasted a little sweet on its own, but the slight tang from the strawberries (I don't seem to be able to get really sweet strawberries here) helped balanced the sweetness. My kids didn't mouth a single complain though.

After checking with VB, who follows the original recipe to a T, I was slightly convinced that I could increase the amount of sugar. I do understand why some recipes call for large amount of sugar. Sugar used in baking is not just for the purpose of sweetening. It has got other important roles to play. For example, sugar helps to attract moisture in the batter, and this in turn helps to reduce the amount of gluten formed in the flour. Recipes with large amount of sugar content will yield a baked good that has got a more tender crumb; and since less gluten is formed in the batter, the resulting baked good will rise better during baking giving it more volume.

So, for this cake I made for our friend, I used 180g of sugar, still not the full amount but a 'great improvement' from my first attempt.

With the experience gained from my previous attempt the day before, I was able to arrange the fruits in a more 'symmetrical' manner. I thought I was quite brave to give away something that I only tested once! I just pray that the cake was well baked. What could be more embarrassing than to give away something that is under cooked? Even testing with a skewer may not guarantee that the cake is cooked right through.

The cake is soft, the texture is almost like a cross between a sponge cake and a butter cake. As the amount of fat used is not too much compared to the amount of flour, the cake doesn't feel greasy and yet it doesn't taste dry. My family members love it!

I have to warn you, this cake is addictive!

I am addicted to baking and eating it! I made the same cake again a few days later. This time, I used 2/3 portion of the ingredient amount and bake it with my 8" round pan. I also replaced about 1/3 of the plain flour with wholemeal flour. The resulting cake was shorter but it tasted as good. I like the nutty texture from the wholemeal flour, it was like eating something baked with ground almonds, minus the fragrance ;)

Afternote: I made the same cake again one week later. This time I used the full portion of the recipe, but replaced one third of the plain flour with wholemeal flour. I used the same 8" pan, and the result was fabulous. So far this is the only cake that could cause an immediate addiction in me...both baking and eating it!

Dribble in the eggs gradually and beat till incorporated in the batter. (The mixture may appear slightly curdled.)

Add vanilla extract and zest. Mix to combine.

Sieve over flour and baking powder and mix till smooth. (To avoid getting flour all over my work surface, I mixed the flour into the batter using a spatula, just a few strokes will do, then I used the electric mixer to mix the batter till smooth.)

Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth out the top with a spatula.

Arrange fruits on top, don’t press the fruits down into the batter. Decorate the fruits as desired.

Bake in pre-heat oven at 180degC for 60-70 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the cake. Cover the top with foil in the last 15 mins of baking to prevent the top from getting over browned.

Leave the cake to cool in the pan for about 5~10 mins. Unmold and transfer to wire rack to let cool completely. Dust the cake with some icing sugar if desired.

Such a sincere n pretty gift to your friend!Excellent choice of fruit toppings - peach, strawberries and blueberries. They make a colourful, appealing visual impact. Is the baking temp missing in the recipe? 180C?

Hi Monica, I used a normal round pan, I do have a springform pan. It is quite easy to unmold, but you need to leave it to cool in the pan for about 10mins so that it is not too hot to handle. First, slide a thin bladed knife to loosen the sides, then invert the cake onto a tray/plate, remove the parchment paper at the bottom, then invert it again from the plate to the cooling rack. I use the lazy method, I invert it onto the cooling rack, remove the paper, then invert it onto my bare hand and place it back on the cooling rack ;)

Hi May, thanks for pointing it out, I was rushing out to Phoon Huat to look for the pizza pan ;) Yes, the cake is to be baked at 180 degC.

Really, I also "wowing" as I scroll through the post. After reading, it indeed seem easy cake to bake thou required some unusual ingredients (yogurt). Perhaps add a glaze and it can become a bday cake. What can I say, nice to see and am sure it is nice to eat.By the way, if I have frozen blueberries, will I need to defroze it before I use it on the cake?

I remember this cake, it was a hit back in year 2007. I made it 3 times, 1st time followed the recipe to a T with the exception of sugar. The cake was dry. In my 2nd attempt, I added more yogurt and lemon juice and it turned out better. In my 3rd attempt, I added extra 1 - 2 tbsp of milk. Cake turned out fine too.

And thanks for the reminder, I've not made this cake since. My kids went WOW when they saw your pics and kept asking me to bake one. I should be baking one soon ;-)

Hi HHB, I baked this yesterday - indeed very nice and addictive. When did you add the yoghurt? After mixing everything, then I realised the yoghurt not added. haha Will be posting in my blog soon let me hv your comments. thanks for sharing.

Sherlyn,Do note that frozen fruits tend to have more moisture in them. There is no need to thaw the blueberries prior to baking but do not overload the cake with too much fruits, else the juice will be oozing out from the fruits and thus causing the cake to be moist on top.

The cake looked so delicious that I couldn't wait to try it - so with my husband coverting the metric measurements into standard (he's Australian so it wasn't a problem for him), I baked the cake. It was super easy and it looked so good when it came out of the oven. The best part - it tasted even better! Thanks!!

Sorry, I am here to ask for something else out of this post.I was baking Chocolate Chips TollHouse Cookies during the last weekend, but I discovered that the outlook of my cookies are different from yours.

I face a problem whereby the middle of the cookies are not as crunchy as the side. And the shape is kind of all-rounded instead like a rocky shape.

Do you have any idea what is the cause of the outcome? hmm....I was thinking is it because I was hand whisking the flour mixture instead of folding it with a spatula...

I place in the fridge for about an hour before baking. But it spreads...

Hi Yummy Koh, the yogurt should be added with the butter and sugar. Your cake looks great, even without the yogurt :)

Thanks Blessed Homemaker for your kind sharing :)

Hi Amanda, I am glad to hear that you like this cake too!

Hi 云の天空, I can think of a few possiblities.1) You could have left the butter to soften till it began to melt before you cream it with the sugar. Did the butter appears very soft and greasy? 2) Did you cool the baking tray before using it? especially in between batches? Cookie dough placed on a hot tray will start to melt/spread even before baking.3) Did you over-grease your baking tray? If yes, maybe you can try using parchment paper instead.4) Did you use plain flour? If you want your cookies to be more puffy, you can use cake flour instead. 5) Make sure you preheat your oven to the right temperature.6) You could have over mix the batter when you whisk in the flour. Stop mixing when the flour 'disappear' into the batter. Hope this helps?

ya....1) I think I had left the butter to room temperature for too long...2) Oopss...this is my problem too!4) I'm using rose flour, I think this is the all-purpose flour which would be fine?5) I preheat the oven at 170 degree for about 5-10mins6) I think I could have over whisk the batter too...

Thank you so much! I'll be baking another batch, Hope I can get it right this time. :)

Hi HHBThanks for your recipe.I baked it last night and it was like everybody bypass the kitchen, they would say "WOW" hahaha. This is a 'WOW WOW CAKE'...LOLNot only the cake looks nice but it tasted nice. My colleagues also love it...Thumb up!Monica

Hi HHB, Thanks for yet another inspirationl cake. Beautiful and delectable with all those fresh fruits. Your generous sharing is much appreciated and therefore I have an award for you. Do drop by whenever you are free to collect it :))

I have looked all over the internet for easy to follow recipes in true oriental cooking and you are by far the best at explaining things. Thank you so very much for this blog and your patience in taking the time to show everyone what you have learned. If you ever decide to stop this blog, my whole family will cry over the loss of such yummy food suggestions. Aside from the baking I also truely enjoy your meal ideas. Living inthe United States it is actually very hard to find authentic recipes for asian cuisine. I can only stand so many recipes for sweet and sour pork. >.< lol Please, keep up the good work! My wife and I try our best to cook as well as you do.

I made the cake yesterday, however, after 35min in the oven, a burning smell came out, but the cake was not done so I left it in the oven. At the end of the baking time (55min), the bottom of the cake was black, do you have any idea what happened?

Hi Dee, looks like your oven temperature is too high. Is the cake top burnt? or just the bottom? if so, is the heating coil of you oven located at the bottom? maybe you need to place the pan at a higher rack? and check your oven temperature with an oven thermometer. Hope this helps.

i tried the cake a few days ago for a bdae... looked really good.. but i had a prob.. the peaches strung & created holes in the cake around the peaches.. i did leave it in the oven longer.. for the reason the cake wasnt browning! i guess i would increase the temp towards the end for a quick while the nx time i try it..

~t@b!tH4~, the cake should start to brown 15mins before the baking time is up. Do make sure your oven is preheated before you put in the cake, some ovens may take up to 10-15mins to get heated to the right temperature. Hope this helps :)

Hi HHB, it was just the bottom, coz I tent it with aluminium foil after 20 min which the surface was starting to brown. No, there wasn't any heating coil at the bottom of my oven. I tried to put it on the middle rack when the burning smell got too strong though, but I guess the bottom is already burnt. I'll try it again, thanks for your advice.

I baked this cake and followed your instructions to the tee. I felt like there had to have been some wet ingredient left out. First, my batter did not "pour" into my pan - this should have been my first clue. I had to scoop and drop it into the pan. Then, I baked it for 50 minutes are the proscribed temperature; the bottom was brown and the top was white. The cake was dry when we ate it!

I was so disappointed. Is there a wet ingredient that is missing? It really looked so pretty.

Hi Terry, the batter is rather thick, not runny. It is more spoon-able than pourable...almost like a muffin batter. If the bottom of your cake was browned but the top was white, could it be that your oven was not well preheated, or you could have baked the cake at too low a rack position, assuming the heating coil is at the bottom of the oven?

hello. this cake looks fabulous and i surely will attempt it soon. but could you tell me if you had cut the strawberries or left them whole? i am worried that if i cut the strawberries, there might be too much liquid oozing out of them into the cake batter thereby affecting the texture. please advise? thanks!

Hi Happy Home Baker,I placed fruits (blueberries & strawberries) on top of my cake batter without pressing them into the batter. However, the batter rose to cover the fruits as the cake was baking in the oven. How do you get the fruits to stay on top of the batter even after the cake was baked? Appreciate your help, as I would really like my cake to look as colourful and pretty as yours. Thanks very much.

Hi Anonymous, I cut the strawberries into halves. Just make sure you drain the strawberries before using.

Hi Anonymous, I arranged the fruits on top of the batter and did not press them into the batter, just like the photo shown above. I am not sure why yours sink? did you use whole strawberries? or did you cut them into halves? What about the pan size you used?

Hi Happy Homebaker,Thanks very much for your prompt reply.I used whole strawberries which were well-drained. The peach slices, strawberries and blueberries were submerged. The batter rose to completely cover all the fruit toppings during baking. Will try again, this time with halved strawberries. Hope for better result appearance-wise next time (fingers crossed!). I used Willow non-stick round cake tin with 20cm (8inches) diameter.

I just tried this recipe, but the cake didn´t rise a lot... (even not at all) I didn´t have an electric mixer. Do you think that was the reason?I want to try it again, this time using an electrical mixer... what do you think?Thank you so much!

Hi Anuradbha, except for the 1st attempt, I have been making this cake using a manual whisk. So I don't think there is a difference if you use an electric mixer. Did you whisk the butter and sugar until the mixture turns pale and becomes fluffy? What about the baking powder, is it still fresh? This cake will not rise as hign as a sponge cake of a chiffon cake. The final cake will give a nice dome (not flat like brownies) but won't rise that much.

Hi, I don't actually keep track of how long it takes. I gauge by:-appearance - the mixture will turn pale, looks fluffy-sound - when using a manual whisk, it will create a 'flopping' sound when you whisk the mixture...ie there's air beaten into it.Do note that the butter should not be left till too soft...otherwise your butter mixture will become 'greasy' looking...shinny, like mayonnaise, which means the butter has melted and not much air is beaten into the mixture. There are many videos out there showing you how to beat butter and sugar...you can take a look at this one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRBX-4KRRkI) to get an idea, hope this helps.

Finally found my way here. Yes, it was your colourful and arrangement of this fruitilicious cake that first caught my eyes to give it a go(pardon my confusion of recipe)Thanks for sharing this great recipe. My family loves this cake very much!

Hi Ling, no it does'nt sound silly at all. I have lots of such questions too :) What I usually do is, after washing the fruits, I will use a strainer (those for vegetables, u know what I mean?) to drain the excess water. Then I place then on paper towels to air dry while I prepare the other ingredients. Turn/flip the fruits around to make sure both sides are dry. Hope this helps :)

this fruit cake very simple & enjoy for looking, but something less in fruit decoration not completed, like: peach,cherry helves & cherry fresh.if notlike that,sorry!!! that cake not perfectbut I like your creativethank's very much

Hi HHB,I love your recipes, and especially this pastry cake :)I have tried baking with this recipe 3 times, but the first 2 try, the batter rose and covered all of the fruits. Then my 3rd try, batter only covered around 50% of the fruits. Any idea why? I substitute baking powder with baking soda due to that's what available for me. Would that be the possible reason causing that?Thank you!

Hi TinG, yes it is because of the baking soda. You could have also used different type of fruits each time. Baking soda needs to have a right balance of acidicty before it can work well. It is different from baking powder. You can read about the difference here:http://www.asianonlinerecipes.com/food_articles/baking-soda-baking-powder.phpHope this helps.

Hi, I love to give this cake a try but i'm afraid of the fruits sinking after baking...tips pls? I've tried other kind of cakes where the toppings have fruits on them and i always fail to get the fruits seen on top of the cake after baking.I'll always wipe-dry the fruits and i never press the fruits down too. Please help me as i'm tempted after seeing ur cake...super yummilicious!!! Mel

Hi Mel, for this cake, the batter is quite thick, so the fruits will not sink, as you can see from the photo above, I arranged the fruit on top of the batter...the photo was taken just before I put it in the often. Give it a try and I am sure you will not be disappointed :)

Hi HHB, another fabulous recipe from your blog. I baked the wholemeal version just now and it turned out moist although the top of the cake cracked a little. Next time, I should turn off the top heater just 20 min before end of baking time. Looks like your blog will my recipe book. The more I browsed through the lovely photos of your recipes, the more inspired I get to try them out. Thanks for sharing. Amy@ KL

Dear HHB,Thank you for sharing this excellent recipe. Mine turned out really well tonight. Went to heaven when I ate it with a touch of whipped cream :-). Will definitely make it for a party next time.

Hi New Baker, for steps 4&5, continue to use the electric mixer. No, do not replace all with wholemeal flour. Unlike cooking, baking is Science, so it is best to follow the ingredient amount and type of flour as closely as possible, hope this helps.

Hi HHB, thanks for sharing this recipe and the clear instructions! Last weekend I made 2 of this cake using cake flour, first one was not as moist and feel like something is missing somewhere... the second one I added 2 Tbsp orange juice and a pinch of salt...oh mine this is it the salt! I also used the remaining berries to make a blended berries sauce (with a whole lemon juice & some icing sugar) best served chilled, they go with the cake so well, am happy with the result ;)

Hi Cindy, it could be due to the creaming of the butter and sugar, did you cream the mixture till it turns pale yellow and fluffy? the other possible cause could be over beating after the flour has been added, over beating may cause gluten to form resulting in hard and tense cake. If you have done the above correctly, then maybe it could be due to your oven temperature, it could be too high or you may have over bake it. Hope this helps.

Hi HHB, i made this cake today but the texture is not soft & fluffy as u had described. My cake has a dome top & there were some cracks. I hv a few questions:

1) my 3 eggs weighed 210 g without shells, is it too much?2) after the flour has been added to the butter mixture, i used an electric mixer to get a smooth batter. How many minutes shd i spend doing this?

hi mj, the eggs you used are the super large ones...think it is too much. I used large sized eggs that are about 60g with shells. After adding the flour, just beat with the electric mixer till the flour incorporates into the batter, should take only a couple of mins, do not over mix as gluten will form and the cake will be tough. If the cake cracks it could be due to the temperature, your oven temp could be on the high side. Hope this helps :)

Tks for the reply HHB ;-)I will definitely try baking this again cos it looks so pretty! But my fruit arrangement skill was really 烂, think i overloaded the batter with peach slices on certain areas. Could that b a reason why my cake rose unevenly?

Hi HHB, this is my 1st time at your blog and is already attracted to this wonderful and colorful cake. A few questions here I hope you don't mind me asking.....does increasing yogurt make the cake more moist? Can I increase yogurt to 100gm without affecting the cake in any way? Btw, is 50gm = 50ml? Thanks!

Hi teo ai li, thanks for visiting my blog :)I am not sure about increasing the yoghurt as it may affect the texture. It is best to follow the ingredient amount closely. 50gm yoghurt is not the same as 50ml of yoghurt because of the density. only 50gm of water is the same as 50ml. hope this helps.

I just want to share with you that I baked this for my mom n aunty on Mothers Day, it was well received n then I re bake again today as cupcakes but reduced baking time to 23 mins n it's wonderful! It's really very tasty n yummy :)

Hi Happy Home Baking,I am going to bake this cake for an upcoming picnic, i want to know that can i use frozen berries in it???? i am going to thaw them & then use them....so i need your expert advice. take care

Hi HHB, do u by any chance happen to know which country this dessert originate from? My gal thought of baking this for her home econs project and needs this info. If u know the origin of mini oreo cheesecake, pls let me know too. TIA:))

I came upon your blog recently when searching for pancake recipe...and I've been attracted by it. Since then, I've tried baking this fruit pastry cake twice. Obviously the first time wasn't very successful as the cake was too moist. Not sure what caused it.

Second time, I tried to tap dry the fruits after wash (used only strawberries & blueberries) for used next day. The texture was good and cake yummy. You're right, it is addictive. Now I'm planning to bake a few of this small one for my friends to eat over the National Day holiday.

Hi Fi Fi, thanks for your kind comment. It's great to know that u didnt give up on the recipe even though the first attempt wasn't that successful :) I have tried baking the same cake in paper muffin cups, but topped with only blueberries and they are equally good. Your friends are so lucky :):)

oh I like that it looks so tasty this so lovely cake i ever seen.i love eating that's why im too fat now :)but most of the time what i eat are chocolates in fact i buy macaroons onlinebecause that's my favorite which is chocolate macaroons.well anyway that cake recipe above is interesting i wanna try that.

This looks amazing. I'm not a fan of fruit cake normally but I may have to change my mind for this. I've been trying to find the best fruit cake recipe for a friend of mine and I'm definitely going to try these.